The science of fat

Time to do a little trimming in my Wall Street Survivor portfolio. I never sell a stock because I found a better stock, but I do sell a stock from my portfolio if it fails to keep trading above its 50 day moving average. This week both Korea Electric Power (KEP) and the Limited Brands (LTD) began trading below their 50 DMA so they were trimmed.

On BarChart I screened for stocks trading above 100K shares a day that were hitting the most new highs and after eliminating stocks trading below $5 and those that scored under 80% buy on BarChart's technical indicators came up with a stock I never heard of -- Cytori Therapeutics (CYTX). As I researched it I found that it was involved with finding therapies that are cell based. Instead of using embryonic cells they use fat cells. We all have plenty of that and fat cell research might not run into the ethical concerns that other stem cell research is receiving.

The stock has hit 14 new highs in the last 20 trading sessions and hit new highs in 4 of the last 5 sessions. Price appreciation in the last 65 days has been 100% and BarChart's technical indicators are hitting 13 out of 13 buy signals for a 100% buy rating.

On Wall Street the 5 analyst following the stock have 4 buy recommendations and the only under perform rating hasn't changed since January 2008. The analysts consensus for sales growth is 17.7% with EPS growth of 54.5% expected next year.

I always try to see what some of the other sites think about a stock in case I missed some negative signals. On Wall Street Survivor Mark's checklist has a Survivor Sentiment rating of 5 of 5, a fundamental rating of 5 of 5 and a technical rating of 5 of 5. The Motley Fool CAPS members think the stock will outperform the market 132 to 20 with the All Stars giving it a 34 to 9 vote. The Wall Street guys Motley Fool follows vote 4 to 0.

This stock passes the 3 tests I use:

• The stock is hitting new highs better than 50% of the time and has a BarChart technical indicator rating of better than 80%
• If Wall Street brokerages are foll0wing the stock they are not trashing it. Why would I buy something if brokerage firms are publishing negative reports and having their brokers call client soliciting sells -- I don't spit in the wind
• I try to get confirmation from other rating sites that the stock has better than a 50/50 chance to beat the market.

I'm adding Cytori Therapeutics (CYTX) to my Wall Street Survivor portfolio because it meet my 3 major criteria. If I can't find a stock that meets my criteria, then I don't buy anything that day.

Disclosure: No positions in CYTX at the time of publication.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com

Buy some medical instruments - TECH

A stock to be noticed by Financial Tides for hitting 14 of 20 new highs is Techne Corp -- TECH. It also has buy signal on 12 of 13 of BarChart's technical indicators for an overall buy rating of 96%. Price appreciation has been a solid 15.12% for the last 65 days.

TECHNE Corporation and its subsidiaries engage in the development, manufacture, and sale of biotechnology products, and hematology calibrators and controls primarily in the United States and Europe. Health care need the proper tools.

Wall Street analysts are following it and the 4 analysts have 3 strong buys to 1 hold with an 8.3% sales growth and an 8.8% EPS growth expectation.

Over on Motley Fool the CAPS members think TECH will outperform the market 163 to 7 with the All Stars voting 54 to 0. Even Motley Fools Wall Street guy have it 2 to 0.

The stock has what I look for:

• Hitting new high more than 50% of the time
• A Wall Street following with no trash talk
• Other sites confirming what I've found.

Recommendation: I'm adding Techne Corp - TECH - to my Marketocracy VMSLO portfolio around 68 with a protective stop loss of no less than 64.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who write about financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below of email FinancialTides@gmail.com

Disclosure: No positions in TECH at the time of publication

A specialty in nichechemicals

On Financial Tides we try to find you companies hitting new highs all the time. KMG Chemicals -- KMBG has hit 15 new highs in the last 20 trading sessions and 4 of the recently 5. KMGB has had a 98.35% price appreciation in the last 65 days. BarChart's technical indicators have 12 of 13 buy signals with one hold for an overall buy rating of 96%

Before this stock can up on my BarChart screeer for new high frequency I didn't even know what nichechemicals was. KMGB manufactures, markets and distributes specialty, nichechemicals. The company manufactures, markets and distributes three wood preserving chemicals, pentachlorophenol, creosote and sodium pentachlorophenate, to industrial customers engaged in the wood preserving business. The company's customers use these preservatives to treat wood and supply the treated wood products to end-users in a variety of industries, principally the railroad, utility and construction industries.

As always I look to see what Wall Street thinks about the stock - I don't want to purchase a stock that's being trashed. Only one analyst follows this stock David Yuschak and he rates it a strong buy. He looks for an 8% increase in sales and a 16.7% increase in EPS.

Over on Motley Fool the CAPS members think the stock will outperform the market by a 205 to 19 vote with the All Stars voting 43 to 7. Their Wall Street players vote 2 to 0.

Points I look for that this stock meets:

• Hitting new high more than 50% of recent trading sessions
• No Wall Street firms trashing it
• Good consensus on other sites

Recommendation: I'm buying KMGB - KMG Chemicals for my Marketocracy VMNHI portfolio around 18 with a protective stop loss no lower than 15.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com

Disclosure: no positions in KMGB at time of publications

This may be the safest bank

Retail has always been fascinating to me. Whenever I see a new store open I always go in and look at the inventory and try to decide if they will make it. I'm more often wrong than I am right but I keep doing it any way.

Back in business school we had guest speakers and Pop Essermann who owned the local department store was my favorite. He played the same lame joke on each class of freshmen. He'd say," When things get rough I always sell the socks that cost me a dollar for 75 cents." And always a first year accounting major would ask, " But aren't you losing 25 cents a pair?" Pops always answered," Yes, but I make it up on volume."

Jos. A Banks (JOSB) almost seems to be following Pop's business plan. This morning they advertised that if you buy a sports coat at regular price they will throw in 2 pairs of pants and 2 sports shirts for free. Are they losing money on every sale but making it up in volume like Pops?

Most companies make the same fatal mistake; when things get rough they cut back on advertising to save cash flow. JOSB seems to have done just the opposite. I can't turn on CNBC for 30 minutes without seeing one of their adds. Has that strategy got them noticed?

If you had purchased JOSB last year you would have seen a 93.21% price appreciation vs. the S&P 500 return of 26.77%. Clearly their strategy has helped them get noticed and beat the market. But what about the bottom line?

Since 2004 sales have grown from 186.5M to 502.5 M, profit margins from 5.53% to 8.75% and EPS from .95 per share to 3.46 per share.

It looks like Pops was right, don't worry if you're selling at a loss -- make it up on volume.

The stock has also been noticed by the Motley Fool CAPS members who think the stock will out perform the market by a vote of 355 to 59 and the All Stars voted 95 to 20. The Wall Street consensus was 6 to 1

Now if I could just buy 5 shares for the price of 1 that would be a bargain I couldn't pass up.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes about financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com

Disclosure: No positions in JOSB

Model Portfolio Monthly Scorecard November

On Financial Tides we give you step by step instructions on how to pick stocks and manage your portfolio for returns that beat the pros. All our recommendations will be placed in 1 of 2 Marketocracy portfolios so you can see the results for yourself. November has ended and here are the results:

VMNHI -- This portfolio contains stocks hitting new highs that are trading more than 100K shares a day at the time of purchase.

Return since inception -- 57.59%
S&P return comparison -- .05% loss
VMNHI beats market -- 57.64%

VMNHI beat the market S&P 500 by an annualized rate of 10.06%

VMSLO -- This portfolio contains stocks hitting new highs that are trading less than 100K shares a day at time of purchase. This is the same portfolio that won the MSN/Investor Place Strategy Lab Open.

Return since inception -- 59.46%
S&P return comparison -- 16.85% loss
VMSLO beats the market -- 76.31%

VMSLO beat the market S&P 500 by an annualized rate of 38.51%

Links to these Marketocracy portfolios:

VMNHI

VMSLO

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes about financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com

Disclosure: I do not hold positions in the stock recommended.

Insure your portfolio

This week I've decided to add American National Insurance (ANAT) to my Wall Street Survivor portfolio. ANAT is a multi-line insurance carrier having life, health, annuities, property and causality insurance plus mutual funds in its bag of products.

It came into my view when I used BarChart to screen for stocks hitting new highs and trading over 100K share per day. ANAT hit 16 new highs in the last 20 trading sessions and is 3 for the last 5 days. It has had a 36% price appreciation in the last 65 days. BarChart has 13 technical indicators and this stock has buy signals on all 13 for a 100% buy rating.

The stock doesn't have a Wall Street following but there also isn't any bad news on the Internet.

I always try to see how it is rated on other sites and on Wall Street Survivor Mark's checklist has a 5 of 5 Survivor Sentiment and a 5 for 5 technical rating. Over on Motley Fool CAPS members feel the stock will out perform the market 28 to 7 with the All Stars voting 10 to 2.

This stock has what I look for:

• It's hitting new highs all the time
• There aren't any brokerage analysts trashing it
• Other rating sites are favorably rating the stock

Recommendation: I'm adding American National Insurance (ANAT) to my Wall Street Survivor portfolio at around 108 and would hold it until it failed to trade above its 50 day moving average.

I also deleted Korea Electric Power (KEP) and Limited Brands (LTD) from the portfolio for failing to trade above their 50 DMA.

This was the last trading day of the month and 4 of our 8 Wall Street Survivor participants beat the market return of 5.51%. Anthony Mirhaydan beat us all with a 21.40% return and I came in second with a November return of 8.33%

Disclosure: I do not hold positions is any of the stocks in my Wall Street Survivor portfolio.

Jim Van Meerten is and investor who writes on financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com

Targeting the youth market

Financial Tides is adding Aloy Inc - ALOY to its VMNHI Marketocracy portfolio as a highly speculative issue. ALOY is a multi-channel media company and direct marketer providing community, content and commerce to Generation Y, the approximately 58 million boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 24.

The stock came up on my BarChart screener of stocks hitting new highs with 15 new highs in the last 20 trading sessions and is 4 for 5 recently. The stock has had a 27% price appreciation in the last 65 days.

This issue is not followed regularly by Wall Street and is in our list only for technical reasons. The BarChart technical indicators have 13 out of 13 buy signals for a 100% buy.

The only analyst that follows the stock looks for a 24.9% sales growth next year.

On other site Motley Fool CAPS members rate the stock 35 to 7 to out perform the market but the All Star members are more positive with a 9 to 1 rating.

Recommendation : adding ALOY to VMNHI portfolio around 8 with a protective stop loss not lower that 6.50. This is a highly speculative recommendation and should have protective stop losses if you add it to your portfolio.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes on financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com.

Disclosure : I do not hold a position in ALOY at the time of publication

There's money in paper

Financial Tides is adding Kimberly Clark - KMB - to the VMNHI portfolio. KMB is one of the leading consumer products companies. Its global tissue, personal care and health care brands include Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex, Depend, Kleenex, Scott, Kimberly-Clark, Safeskin, Tecnol, Kimwipes and Wypall. Other brands well known outside the U.S. include Andrex, Scottex, Page, Popee and Kimbies. Kimberly-Clark also is a major producer of premium business, correspondence and technical papers.

The stock came up on my BarChart screener because it has hit 14 new highs in the last 20 trading sessions and is 4 for 5 recently. There has been a 15% price appreciation in the last 65 days. BarChart's technical indicators rate 12 of 13 buys with 1 hold for a 96% buy rating.

There are 14 analyst following this stock and 5 give it a buy. Consensus for sales growth is 5.9% and EPS growth of 13.1% is expected.

I always look for other votes of confidence and over on Motely Fool CAPS the members vote 633 to 44 that the stock will out perform the market. The All Star members rate it 216 to 5 and the Wall Street rating is 16 to 0.

This stock has what I look for:

• Hitting new highs
• Positive Wall Street press
• Confirmation from other rating sites.

Recommendation - Adding KMB to VMNHI around 65.50 with a protective stop loss no lower than 62.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes about financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com

Disclosure: I do not hold a position in KMB at time of publication

Model Portfolio deletions

Follow these portfolios on Financial Tides.

The following stocks have been deleted from my model Marketocracy portfolios:

From VMNHI - This portfolio contains stocks hitting new highs trading more than 100K shares a day

CPBY - Chinese Information Security Tech - failure to maintain positive price momentum

TSCO - Tractor Supply Co - failure to maintain positive price momentum

From VMSLO - This portfolio is the same as the one that won the Strategy Lab Open and contains stock hitting new highs but are trading less than 100K shares a day

MYN - Blackrock Muniyield - failure to maintain a positive price momentum

Disclosure: I do not hold position in these stocks at the time of publication

Jim Van Meerten writes on financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email to FinancialTides@gmail.com

Market Scoreboard w/e 11/27/2009

I'm not real happy with the way the market acted last week. As you know each week I try to step back and look at which way the market trended in the past week and this week wasn't very good. I use BarChart to find my analytics and here's how they went this past week.

Value Line Index - 1700 stocks so its broader than just the Dow 30 or S&P 500

• The index was actually flat and unchanged for the week
• BarChart technical indicators - 32% sell with only 3 buys, 3 holds and 7 sells
• Index trending below its 20 and 50 day moving average but still above its 100 DMA

BarChart Market Momentum - 6000 stocks - percentage of stocks trading above its Daily Moving Average - overall very weak

• 20 DMA -- only 47.44% above
• 50 DMA -- only 44.40% above
• 100DMA -- 64.49% above

Ratio of stocks hitting new highs to new lows for various periods -- 1.0+ bullish, 1.0 neutral, under .99 bearish -- bearish this week

• 20 day new high/new low ratio -- 242/876 = .28
• 65 day new high/new low ratio -- 113/427 = .26
• 100 day new high/new low ratio -- 106/223 = .48

Summary - Market didn't perform in a positive manner and the 3 previous weeks poor performance caught up with the numbers -- Middle East credit crisis could cause concern. Please act defensively.

Wall Street Survivor results - Those who post stock recommendations to Top Stocks have a little friendly competition going on Wall Street Survivor and month to date Anthony Mirhayden is the leader with a 30.37% return, That's way ahead of my month to date return of 7.35% but I still managed to beat the market's 5.34% return. I sold SWIR -- Sierra Wireless because it failed to maintain price momentum above its 50 day moving average. I won't add a position today until I see how the market digests this Middle East credit crisis.

Disclosure: I do not hold any positions in the stocks I recommend on Top Stocks

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who writes about financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email FinancialTides@gmail.com